- BERG - University of Stirling Mailing Lists

BERG this week (and 24th April 2019)
by Deborah Bruce 18 Feb '19

18 Feb '19

Dear BERGers, Just a wee reminder that there is no BERG meeting this week as it is Reading Week within the university. I do however have another date for your diaries as we will be having an additional meeting this semester. On Wednesday 24th April 2019, Hannah Buchanan-Smith will be hosting Sabrina Brando. Sabrina is Director of Animal Welfare with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and will be giving a presentation titled, " Global Collaboration for Animal Welfare". Hannah will circulate further details closer to the event. If you have students who might wish to be on the BERG mailing list, please send them this e-mail. To sign up to the BERG mailing list please use the following link: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/berg (You can also use this link to unsubscribe) https://stir.box.com/s/rwzik2tsai3kausdtekqvgayv34otmgt An up to date copy of our schedule can be found at: https://stir.app.box.com/file/379199974874 Our Spring Semester sessions will resume on Wednesday 27th February when our own Pawel Fedurek will be speaking. Best Wishes, Deborah

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FW: UFAW Symposium Bruges 2019. Programme of talk and posters presentations announcement. Deadline for early registration ends 28th February.
by Hannah Buchanan-Smith 15 Feb '19

15 Feb '19

As UFAW kindly sponsor BERG, I offer to share details of their meetings. This one may be of interest to some. Best, Hannah From: Stephen Wickens <wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk> Sent: 15 February 2019 10:29 To: Hannah Buchanan-Smith <h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: UFAW Symposium Bruges 2019. Programme of talk and posters presentations announcement. Deadline for early registration ends 28th February. Advancing animal welfare science: How do we get there? - Who is it good for? UFAW International Symposium 2019 3rd-4th July 2019 Site Oud Sint-Jan, Bruges, Belgium Dear Hannah, The line up of speakers for the UFAW Symposium 2019 has now been announced and I'd be grateful if you could share this information with your colleagues, if you have not already done so. The symposia will feature the following keynote talks: * Professor Linda Keeling (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden) Advances in technology to monitor animal welfare on the farm * Dr Joseph Garner (Stanford University, USA) Good science, good welfare. How understanding animals used in research helps us * Dr Hans van de Vis (Wageningen Livestock Research, The Netherlands) Challenges associated with assessing and improving the welfare of farmed fish In addition, the symposium will feature 29 talks from other speakers including (see attached .pdf for full list): * Bennett RM (University of Reading, UK) The benefits of animal welfare science * Rioja-Lang FC, H Bacon, M Connor, AB Lawrence and CM Dwyer (University of Edinburgh and Scotland's Rural College, UK) Prioritising animal welfare issues using expert consensus * Jorquera MF, FR Dunshea, S Fuentes and EC Jongman (University of Melbourne, Australia) A pilot study of early detection of porcine pleuropneumonia using remote sensing and computer vision techniques over thermal infrared and RGB imagery * Huertas SM, PE Bobadilla, M Prieto and JM Lestido (Universidad de la República and JM Lestido Project Management, Uruguay; OIE Collaboration Center on Animal Welfare and Livestock Production Systems (Chile-Uruguay-México)) A new methodology to improve animal welfare during transport: "PROGAT" * Knock M and GA Carroll (Hartpury University Centre and Queens University Belfast, UK) The potential of post-mortem carcass assessments in reflecting the welfare of beef and dairy cattle * Stracke J, D Klotz, P Wohlsein, N Kemper and B Spindler (University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany) Scratch the surface. Histopathology of foot pad dermatitis in turkeys * Burn CC (The Royal Veterinary College, UK) Stopping senseless standardisation: How not to waste laboratory animal lives The conference will start at 9.10 on the 3rd July, with registration from 8.00, and end at 17.10 on the 4th July. During the lunch break on both days there will be a poster sessions that will feature the posters on the attached .pdf. In due course abstracts for all the presentations will be made available on the conference webpage. Registration and accommodation details: The registration fee for the symposium is £325 (with a reduced rate of £255 available to delegates who register before 1st March). The registration fee includes attendance, lunch and refreshments over the two days and a drinks reception on the evening of 3rd July. Further details on the symposium, including a registration form and booking accommodation in Bruges can be found on the UFAW website: www.ufaw.org.uk/ufawbruges2019<http://www.ufaw.org.uk/ufawbruges2019>. Kindest regards, Stephen Wickens, BSc PhD UFAW Development Officer Contact details: Stephen Wickens, Bruges 2019, UFAW, The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, AL4 8AN, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1582 831818; Fax: +44 (0) 1582 831414; Website: www.ufaw.org.uk<http://www.ufaw.org.uk/>; Email: wickens(a)ufaw.org.uk<mailto:wickens@ufaw.org.uk> Follow us: [Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fufaw.…> ; [Twitter] <http://twitter.com/home?status=%40UFAW%5F1926-%20https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%…> About UFAW: The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), the international animal welfare science society, is a UK registered scientific and educational charity that brings together the animal welfare science community, educators, veterinarians and all concerned about animal welfare worldwide in order to achieve advances in the well-being of farm, companion, laboratory and captive wild animals, and for those animals with which we interact in the wild. Registered Charity No 207996 (Registered in England) and Company Limited by Guarantee No 579991

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RA position with capuchin monkeys - Japan - all expenses paid
by Donna Kean 14 Feb '19

14 Feb '19

Hello all, Please find an advert attached for a research assistant position working with capuchins based in Kyoto this summer. Please feel free to forward to any non-BERGers who may be interested. Deadline: 28th Feb Best wishes, Donna

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FW: Call for submissions: PSGB Spring Meeting April 2019
by Phyllis Lee 11 Feb '19

11 Feb '19

Hi BERG people, All you primate / evol psychology people might want to consider registering and submitting a paper or poster presentation for the upcoming PSGB meeting at the Powell-Cotton Museum. The place alone is worth a visit as it contains a huge number of (dead) apes and endangered African primates (no, they are not endangered because they were shot in the 1900s but it didn’t help). Lots of type specimens too! Best wishes Phyllis From: Ellie Donnelly <drelliedonnelly(a)gmail.com> Sent: 07 February 2019 16:00 To: Phyllis Lee <phyllis.lee(a)stir.ac.uk> Subject: Call for submissions: PSGB Spring Meeting April 2019 Hi Phyllis, My name is Ellie Donnelly and I am the student representative for PSGB. I recognise your name from PSGB conferences hence why I've picked you to email. I realise it's a busy time of year, so apologies, but I am hoping you can help. The student organising the Spring conference in April is really struggling with low submissions for poster and oral presentations and as the student representative I have volunteered to help actively encourage submissions from universities and other institutions by basically emailing someone in the relevant department at each University and asking them to distribute the below email to the relevant mailing lists at each one! I've noticed we don't have a student representative at Stirling, so no emails have probably been sent round the relevant mailing list/s there I would be really grateful if you could send out this new one I've done to the relevant mailing lists at Stirling to encourage students to submit! As you know, It's a great opportunity for them to present. (Also I'm aware that Kent is literally the other end of the UK, but it's worth a shot, right?!) Many thanks Ellie Dear students and staff, My name is Ellie Donnelly and I am the student representative of the Primate Society of Great Britain. The society is dedicated to advancing the conservation of primates in the wild, ensuring the highest possible standards of care and welfare for captive primates and advancing research into all areas of primatology and related fields. Our members come from a wide variety of disciplines including conservation and captive care, comparative cognition and communication, osteology, veterinary medicine, genetics and ethno-primatology. Following on from our extremely successful Winter Meeting at Bristol Zoo, our Spring Meeting is being held at the Powell-Cotton Museum on 8th and 9th April 2019. The theme for this conference is Primate Health, Captive Care and Conservation. All researchers regardless of career stage are encouraged to submit an abstract for a presentation at the meeting, but I am writing as we particularly wish to encourage students and those from allied professions involved in captive primate care to apply to present. The PSGB has a reputation of being a small, very friendly and inclusive society so please do not feel shy about presenting your work. The Spring meeting has a very broad theme, which has been deliberately chosen to allow as many people from different disciplines as possible to present. Your research is more than likely to fit one of these categories. Submissions are open for 15 minute oral presentations, 5 minute oral speed presentations and poster presentations, so you can present your research at a level and in a manner in which you are comfortable. The submission deadline of Friday 15th February is fast approaching but the full presentation does not have to be complete by then - just the outline in an abstract submission form on our website. You have plenty of time after that to perfect your talk or poster! In addition, the work you present does not have to refer to a completed project. We welcome the submission of preliminary findings, pilot studies or even proposed project plans. Alternatively, you may have presented your work elsewhere, but this meeting provides an opportunity to reach a different audience. You have nothing to lose and only valuable experience to gain. We will also be giving out prizes for the best student/trainee poster and oral presentation. Presenting and/or winning prizes at a national conference, whether as a poster or orally, looks great on your CV or training record! If you simply wish to attend the conference and support or watch others presenting, we welcome meeting registrations from members and non-members alike. Becoming a student/trainee member only costs £15 and is more than covered by the discount on ticket price it gives. The deadline for ‘early bird’ discounted tickets for attendance is Friday 1st March. Our last meeting was sold out by the Early Bird deadline, so please don’t forget to book early to ensure a place! Please find the links below for further information on the conference and to purchase tickets: http://www.psgb.org/meeting_detail.php?ID=spring-meeting-2019-2019-04-08 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/psgb-spring-conference-2019-tickets-54651663… You can follow PSGB student on twitter https://twitter.com/psgbstudent and facebook https://www.facebook.com/PSGBPhD/ Please do email any queries about presenting to the conference organiser Jaimie.morris(a)canterbury.ac.uk.or<mailto:Jaimie.morris@canterbury.ac.uk.or> any other queries to myself at student(a)psgb.org<mailto:student@psgb.org> Many thanks and happy submitting! Ellie Donnelly PSGB Student representative MAPhD student Durham University

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BERG Meeting - Wednesday 13th February 2019
by Deborah Bruce 11 Feb '19

11 Feb '19

Dear BERGers, This week at BERG our speaker is Anthony Lee who will be giving the following talk: "A data-driven approach to human mate preferences". Abstract: Previous research investigating human mate preferences has often used a theory-driven approach; however, this can be limiting as only traits predicted by existing theories can be investigated. I will present data from two papers where complementing traditional theory-driven research with data-driven techniques can help gain unique insight into human mate preference. The first analysis investigates women's facial attractiveness, while the second analysis focuses on written descriptions from online dating profiles. Our meeting is at the usual time and venue: 5.30 p.m. in the Common Room (3A94), with drinks and nibbles as always. If you have students who might wish to be on the BERG mailing list, please send them this e-mail. To sign up to the BERG mailing list please use the following link: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/berg (You can also use this link to unsubscribe) https://stir.box.com/s/rwzik2tsai3kausdtekqvgayv34otmgt An up to date copy of our schedule can be found at: https://stir.app.box.com/file/379199974874 See you all on Wednesday. Best Wishes, Deborah

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BERG Meeting - Wednesday 6th February 2019
by Deborah Bruce 04 Feb '19

04 Feb '19

Dear BERGers, This week at BERG our speaker is David Pritchard who will be giving the following talk: "Are hummingbirds "feathered bees"?: insect-inspired approaches to bird navigation" Hi everyone, I have just moved here from Sue Healy's group in St Andrews to work with Mario Vallejo-Marin in Biology, and wanted to introduce myself, what research I have done, and tell you about what I am going to be doing in Stirling (spoilers: it involves bees). David Pritchard. [cid:28182319-8982-451c-954c-b8899353fea8] Our meeting is at the usual time and venue: 5.30 p.m. in the Common Room (3A94), with drinks and nibbles as always. Although our schedule for this Spring Semester is almost complete but we still have one available date, Wednesday 27th March 2019. Would somebody like to sign up for this slot? Please do so using our Doodle Poll at: https://doodle.com/poll/shw5nppymad8e8b7 If you have students who might wish to be on the BERG mailing list, please send them this e-mail. To sign up to the BERG mailing list please use the following link: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/berg (You can also use this link to unsubscribe) https://stir.box.com/s/rwzik2tsai3kausdtekqvgayv34otmgt An up to date copy of our schedule can be found at: https://stir.app.box.com/file/379199974874 See you all on Wednesday. Best Wishes, Deborah

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FW: WAWC meeting: Who are the guardians of wild animal welfare? 27th March 2019
by Hannah Buchanan-Smith 28 Jan '19

28 Jan '19

This may be of interest to some..... Wild Animal Welfare Committee Who are the guardians of wild animal welfare? Wednesday 27 March 2019 10:30 - 17:00 City Chambers High Street Edinburgh EH1 1YJ Booking is now open for the WAWC conference 2019!<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wawc-conference-2019-tickets-54535573368> The Wild Animal Welfare Committee is delighted to invite you to this year's conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday 27 March, on the theme Who are the guardians of wild animal welfare? Introduced by the WAWC Chairman, Dr Pete Goddard, the full-day conference will open with a keynote presentation by: - Donald Broom, Emeritus Professor of Animal Welfare at Cambridge University on the subject of Wild animal welfare, sentience and law: international perspectives. This will be followed by presentations by speakers from the Committee and guests, including (provisional titles - to be confirmed): - Dr Sandra Baker, WildCRU, Zoology, Oxford University, on Influencing behaviour with regard to wild animal welfare - Dr Chris Draper, Born Free Foundation on Welfare guardianship during conservation activities - Alick Simmons, former Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer for England on Current and future guardians of wildlife welfare in the UK - Sarah Dolman, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, with Joe Perry, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science on UK marine mammal guardianship in areas such as seal culling, ocean energy and tourism More speakers will be confirmed shortly. The afternoon session will focus on audience workshops and discussions around the theme of guardianship, with contributions from an expert panel. Tickets, price £65, are available HERE<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wawc-conference-2019-tickets-54535573368> We are also offering student places for £40 - please contact the WAWC directly at wildanimalwelfarecommittee(a)gmail.com<mailto:wildanimalwelfarecommittee@gmail.com> for more information. Both prices cover refreshments, vegetarian/vegan lunch and a complimentary drinks reception from 1700 - 1800. We hope you will be able to join us - and join in - for the day. What they said about the first WAWC conference ... "Yesterday was such a brilliant success! The turnout was terrific, the talks were great and the food lovely. The best thing of the day was the mix of people who attended and the acceptance by these diverse groups that progress could be made by co-operation. What more could one hope for at this early stage in the establishment of the central role for the WAWC?" W: www.wawcommittee.org<http://www.wawcommittee.org/> E: wildanimalwelfarecommittee(a)gmail.com<mailto:wildanimalwelfarecommittee@gmail.com> Twitter: @wawcommittee

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BERG Meeting - Wednesday 30th January 2019
by Deborah Bruce 28 Jan '19

28 Jan '19

Dear BERGers, This week at BERG our speaker is Bill Phillips who will be giving a presentation entitled: "Subcellular and microcircuit foundations of information processing in the neocortex: Recent comparisons between humans, monkeys, and rodents" To get you all interested and your thinking caps on, Bill has sent me the following abstract for his talk: Abstract: Mammalian neocortex has expanded greatly in size and number of specialized regions during the course of evolution. Why? What is its special magic? What are the common information processing capabilities that make it useful to such a wide diversity of species and ecological niches? How do its capabilities vary across species and cortical regions? Are there any distinctive capabilities of human neocortex? Recent discoveries indicate that the ability of neocortical pyramidal cells to select and amplify currently relevant signals varies greatly both within and across species. Selective amplification at the neuronal level is important because it is central to the conscious cognitive decisions that determine what is perceived, thought, and done, with major implications for development and psychopathology. We established the formal information theory of selective amplification long ago, and are currently studying its implications for machine learning. Potential synergies between this research and that of BERG await exploration. Our meeting is at the usual time and venue: 5.30 p.m. in the Common Room (3A94), with drinks and nibbles provided as always. Our schedule for this Spring Semester is almost complete but we still have one available date, Wednesday 20th March 2019. Would somebody like to do the honours and sign up for this date? Please do so using our Doodle Poll at: https://doodle.com/poll/shw5nppymad8e8b7 If you have students who might wish to be on the BERG mailing list, please send them this e-mail. To sign up to the BERG mailing list please use the following link: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/berg (You can also use this link to unsubscribe) https://stir.box.com/s/rwzik2tsai3kausdtekqvgayv34otmgt An up to date copy of our schedule can be found at: https://stir.app.box.com/file/379199974874 See you all on Wednesday. Best Wishes, Deborah

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BERG Meeting - Wednesday 23rd January
by Deborah Bruce 21 Jan '19

21 Jan '19

Dear BERGers, This week at BERG Lesley Craig will be hosting two guest speakers, Guy Gater and Elizabeth Louden, who are in the process of setting up a project for rescued primates in Ghana. A wee bit of background from Guy and Elizabeth to get you all interested: Presentation Title : Project Patas - The Fight for the Weeds Presentation Outline * Who are Guy and Elizabeth and what is our vision? * Project Patas - Goals & Progress Update * Is there a fit with Stirling University to join us on this challenging / exciting journey? Our meeting is at the usual time and venue: 5.30 p.m. in the Common Room (3A94), with drinks and nibbles provided as always. Although we have a few speakers already lined up, there are still some slots free to present at BERG this semester. Please help to fill up our Spring Schedule by signing up for an available date using our Doodle Poll at: https://doodle.com/poll/shw5nppymad8e8b7 If you have new students who might wish to be on the BERG mailing list, please send them this e-mail. To sign up to the BERG mailing list please use the following link: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/berg (You can also use this link to unsubscribe) https://stir.box.com/s/rwzik2tsai3kausdtekqvgayv34otmgt See you all on Wednesday. Best Wishes, Deborah

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Offer of informal talk
by Bill Phillips 17 Jan '19

17 Jan '19

Hi members of BERG, If it is of interest I could give an informal talk on subcellular foundations of cognition with particular emphasis upon evolutionary changes in those foundations from rodents to humans. Best wishes, Bill ?

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